Yuppers it's that time of year once again...
A hunting we will go.... Yes I said hunting...
And what fur ya ask ???
Why Shrooms what else !!!!

The elusive Morel ..
We do this right in the back yard for real....
And in 20 min this is what we caught...

Morels !!! Aka Fish of the woods...

We ran to the store and picked up some local trout...
So tonight we will feast on Morels and trout with some kind of greens..
Ah the spring tonic....

I did a little more hunting and found some Black morels !! They are a real treat... Don't grow in the same area as the Grays and Tans... And much smaller :huh The Morel is one of the easiest to identify..
There is a poisonous variety .. But they are chambered on the inside just like the outside... The Good ones are nice and smooth inside and hollow ....

They come up after big rains and a good warm up... We should get another crop in the next few weeks if the weather keeps up ...

Also what I trim off the Morels I will toss back in the woods...Plus we use a mesh sack ,and leave the roots...Just how we do it ...

Here was tonight's supper...

Edamame and Collards..

Saute' and sweat down the Morels..

Added some spinach ...

Trout encrusted with Flax seed and meal with Quinoa..

Ooo trout is ready :tb

Highbinder's plate..I shell the soy beans for him

My plate...I like to just pop the beans right in me mouth

Oh man I'm stuffed... In a good way....

Yeah yeah I know I have rr to put up...
I never got to my retrospect RR's .. I will One of these days...
And now with the season upon us .. I have a rr from this past weekend...

The first camp out of the year . The Party Boss tm .
Wanted to camp after the long hard winter.. So a bunch of us said where and when
The second weekend in April it is !!! The Place.. at our good friends place WillVille
The motorcycle camp ground in Meadows of Dan, Va. Just off the BRP
A great place .... With a nice creek....

Highbinder & I head out after chores We stopped at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Hillsville Then we are only a hope skip and a just from Wills .

We pulled in a little after noon only 1 tent Kyles .
So we unpack

HBs bike all unpacked ..

Then it off to the Poor Farmers Market ,just to see if there is anything I just got to have ..
I did pick up a little something for my sister .Who had just lost her dog .

Theres me honey . He had injured his shoulder a few weeks back
So we really didnt know how it would be camping But he was game to give it a go

The campground started to fill up

FreakingRT showed up !!! And staked his claim to a spot..

Folks just hanging around at Wills

Will was havig some Cookies and cream icecream HB was wondering why he didn't offer any to all of us.. Just kidding ..

We brought 2 kinds of Chili with us for supper . Others went up the road to eat
Hey we are to be camping Not sleeping outside and eating out Oh well what ever

257Bob rolls in ... I stoll this pix from KnyBanjo .. We shared our meal with him .

I had baked the night before , and shared some of the Banana nut rum bread that I made..

Will had the bonfire going Photo taken by HappyRiding....

Sat around told a few tales Then we went to the tent for the night.. At first it was just rain and a few claps of thunder, no big deal ..
Then the lighting was all crazy colours and the thunder was just about simultaneously

You cant really see it but I was really worried As the hail started to fall big time
All I could think ,was my bike is uncovered !!! I sure hope its not big hail pellets

Thanks to Gaston Gagne heres a pix of the Hail .

Saturday morning while most went for a ride to our neck of the woods
HB & I packed up Had things to do on the farm.. We didnt have anyone to watch and feed the stock for this trip .

Shoving/stuffing our sleeping bag in the wheel wells

TheBlack is just about loaded

On our way home we stopped at the other Va.Farmers Market .. To pick up some honey ..
I was getting low . We looked for the group ride .. But they had left a good 2 hours in front of us By the time we ate and shopped We got home just in time .around 1:15 The skies opened up once more We had hoped that the group had changed there route , as the rains had been really heavy . Didnt see them heading up rt 614

Sorry I didnt take anymore pix With the odd weather the camera seamed to stay out of sight .
Had a blast It was good to see a few people that we knew
And to met a few new ones Plus put a face to a few names .

Yuppers it was a good Friday/Saturday

Saturday night our buddy calls us and said Its got to be to wet for ya to do your work
So why dont you both meet us at the Snake!!!!
Part two .. To be continued

LOL... Well at least I got part 2 finish before the end of the following week...LOL....

Sunday morning rolls around and the sun is up and shining..
A little chilly at first...
Stepped in the garden and yuppers to wet to work&#8230;
So lets ride and meet up with SmokinJoe and his group at Shady Valley&#8230;
89 miles from our farm&#8230;.HB suggested to load our mesh coats :huh

It was a grand day..

We started out with our heavier coats&#8230;.

Highbinder said we are to meet up with Joe around 12:30&#8230;..We arrived a tad early so we could say Hi to David & Kim the proprietors of the Shady Valley store&#8230;.
Very nice folks &#8230;

Joe and the group rode in &#8230;Time to chat &#8230;And hang out for a bit..
That&#8217;s Joe he really flies his dragon{Valk} in the twisties..As a matter a fact, this group that we ride with really fly their Dragons very very well&#8230;.

BigAl sat and chatted with Highbinder&#8230;. Looked at HB&#8217;s shirt and said you know I have a KLR maybe I should join ADV ??

Lucky13 and his gal MeanStreak&#8230; Funny I never understood why they call her MeanStreak?? She has always been pleasant&#8230;

Gordon aka Lucky13 was telling us all just how you can cut the tip of your own finger off in a splitter .. But first you have to do it just so &#8230;.. That&#8217;s Greg off to the right&#8230;

Right before we pulled I saw this very familiar bike and trailer pull in &#8230;
If you look way in the back by &#8230; Who&#8217;s trailer is that you say .. Why it was Kyle&#8217;s !!!
Yeah yeah I didn't get a very good shot of it&#8230;.But walked over and said howdy &#8230; And that it was good to meet him at WillVille Friday/Sat&#8230;.. Have a great ride home !!

We ran the Snake .. And went around the lake and was off to Etown for dinner&#8230;

In town we lost a few riders so it was time to pull off the side to regroup&#8230;.
Dragon herding at it&#8217;s best&#8230; Funny we all said ,as we all looked in the rear views . Well I saw the lights and thought it was our group.. Oops it wasn't &#8230;

You can see HB & I had changed in to our mesh jackets . It was 89* in TN&#8230;

Ahh food &#8230; We got there around 2:30pm ,, I was getting hungry!! I ate at 5 am that morning&#8230;So a nice salad and a baked sweet tater is in order.. :tb
Carolina Girl And Meanstreak chatting over dinner ..

SmokinJoe show Highbinder his snake eyes for a good ole fashion gun fight&#8230;

With bellies full ~Time for a little chat and digest.. That&#8217;s BigTom with Lucky13 and HB&#8230;

The rest of the guys&#8230; There is NormanDog he&#8217;s CarolinaGirls mate&#8230;

CarolinaGirl & Meanstreak saying there good byes&#8230;.

Joe even shot this pic of me and my Limegreen helmet and my half Yellow mesh coat.. LOL&#8230;. Not really my first choice in colours but the price was the clincher&#8230;. And it is cooler in the summer months..

Yuppers it was a great weekend &#8230; It all started off with camping and twisters and ended with warm sunny skies and great mountain roads&#8230;.

Oh wow ... It has been a while...
But soon I'll catch up to all my RR's from the year !!!!

Here is what is going on to make our speed faster.....

A very long read.........

OK let me back up and tell the story about this little Black box...

Last Sunday we tried the loaner MiFi til Thursday.. Well my Laptop saw it right away...

The desktop that is newer not so lucky..So I had to go back out and get a wireless router eye from Radio Shack (50+miles round trip).. That took 4 hours to get the desktop to see it..

And an hour of tech help that did nothing but go over all the same stuff I had done multiple times.. The end with them, was well I can't help you..

So I hacked into it for a few more hours,and Bingo !! I finally got it to work..

So Monday- Thursday was Internet bliss in at the farm till Thursday morning...

Brought the Mifi back and said sign US up, we will take the big $$$ plunge.. And buy the unit ..

As I'm doing the paper work I see the little box is different !! Whoa !! I said that's NOT the SAMEONE !!! The Guy says it's the Same just a different brand ... Well the flag goes up !!! I again said but that's NOT the one I tested... He tells me we are out of the MiFi right now..I think to myself I can wait...

He said it will work don't worry... Everyone in the Verizon store said it is the better of the 2 ... OK I guess they know their equipment..

But I did find out this one was 35 bucks more !!! ... They waived my sign up fee ($35).. Ok that's fair...

I said what happens if this DOESN'T work at my location... My rep said just bring it back and we will exchange it..LOL. yes I read a few things (As I'm just standing around waiting) and said but there is a restocking fee of $35 !! He said not to worry we will waive it .. OK that sounds fair once again ..

(To self why not just give me the one I tried ,that I know works)..

Well 2+ hours later .. Yes it took 2+ hours to do the paper work..

So I bring our little black box home ... Hook it up and both computers don't like it !!!

At this point I'm very pissed ..(I would have waited for the MiFi) Hell we have had dial-up for 11+ years another week would be no biggy..

I worked 2 hours on my laptop.. Then called a tech help and they worked another hour and we got the laptop working with the samsung...

Ok now to the desktop.. That didn't like it at all... 3 hours of rebooting typing with the tech and still a NO GO !!! I tell tech I have get to work on supper ,Can you give me a call around 9 pm.. (Sure I can ) Yuppers never called back..

Well at this time I have such a tension headache (I NEVER get these left temple is bounding) We grab a bite of food and I go back to hacking on the desk top.. I reboot a few more times And I finally get it to see the black box and Internet !!!!

Now for the kicker the black box doesn't like the signal here on the mountain ,it sux !!! it's way to weak for our mountains... Keeps freezing up and cant find the Internet can't display the page (Why me)

I called version Friday morning and tell them what is going on .. And another rep says: well bring your laptop here and we will get it up and working ... I laugh and say I'm 50 miles round trip, I don't think I bringing my laptop to you .. Plus of course it's going to work at your place.. It's at my location on Mountain that's the problem !!!

So she said bring the Samgung back ,pay the fee and we will give you the MiFi !! I ask is my rep there ? No he will be back Monday.. I told her what he said about the waiving of restocking fee.. She said you will have to work that out with him... Oh here's the other kicker she said they have the MiFi in stock its on the top shelf in the back!!! :huh

So today I'll make that run all the way back to Cedar Bluff and get my black box changed to the one I know works on my mountain...With a good signal..